Hi Everybody. I am a nuitrition nut and followed the medical and nuitritional journals for years. As some of you know, I follow Dr. Perricone's diet and he explains the "belly fat" in his book as well. You are right that sugar and carbs do tend to go to the middle. The reason is that carbohydrates are processed by our bodies as storage (adipose cells) to be used by the body during periods when the body has no other food source. Protein (meats, fish, poultry, certain beans, and nuts) cannot be stored in the body and are used up first. However, Dr. Perricone purports that if you eat protein before consuming carbohydrates, a good portion of it attaches to the protein and passes through the body without storing. So one solution is to eat some protein while you are drinking your wine. Also, try to stay away from starchy carbs.
Also, walking is purported to be one of the best exercises for carbohydrate-induced fat, particularly if it is alcohol. As mentioned by someone else here, carbohydrate-induced fat is generally caused because of it's high glycemic index, which therefore causes insulin spiking in your body, shocking your body into the storage mode because spiking insulin occurs naturally during exercise so it is a clue to the body to start storing. In addition, the "drug" aspect of alcohol slows down your metabolism. While heavily exerted exercise actually helps to abate insulin-spiking, in the case of alcohol consumption, it is a further shock effect that CAN (not always) slow the metabolism down even further and generate further storage processing in the body. Whereas walking is a "gentle nudge" that helps to counteract the slowing down effects of the alcohol.
Genetics can play a key part in your body shape, something I regret to say is readily apparent in the women in our family. Age also has an impact. For most women, around the age of 40 their metabolism slows down naturally (even if not drinking) and they begin to struggle with weight issues. I just turned 50, my family is proned to middle fat, but I have been very successful with the protein first and the walking.
Please keep in mind that I am not a Doctor, nor a nuitritionist, and can't really tell others for certain that it will work for them. I just have studied this stuff for years and have met with success using these methods, which are considered healthy techniques by most experts. Hope it helps.
MM
Comment